SAVIOUR: THAT IS THE ASPECT UNDER WHICH WE OUGHT TO CONTEMPLATE OUR DIVINE MASTER

The Holy Spirit inspires certain groups and individuals to a deep understanding of one particular word or aspect of God, which then becomes the focus of their way of life and of their ministry. Religious Orders and Congregations and Ecclesial Movements usually become a living expression of their particular evangelical focus. When Eugene wrote to his community, during his time of convalescence, it is to this that he referred:

I wish you to change the end of our litanies; instead of saying Jesus sacerdos [ed. Jesus, priest], we must say Christe salvator [ed. Christ, saviour].

That is the aspect under which we ought to contemplate our divine Master.

This sentence is of vital importance to the understanding of the identity of the members of the Mazenodian family. The conversion experience of Eugene had brought him to the realization that Jesus Christ was Saviour in his personal life, and it was this aspect of God that would be the guiding focus of Eugene’s life and ministry. The Saviour would thus be the guiding focus of the Oblates, whom Eugene referred to as the “Saviour’s co-operators”.